This set cost £19.99 from a company called TJ Hughes. I tell you now because the same product is being advertised on Amazon for over £50 quid !

At just under £20 this is a bargain - why ? Because the scale is even better.

The first photo shows the first train I bought...

The second photo shows the new locomotive.

And here they are side by side - the difference is clear

I think you'll agree this is much more like it. So what did I get for £20 quid....this lot

A loco and coal tender, two passenger carriages, four cargo box/wagons/ and two large tankers. Stretched out that's almost 1.5metres of train !

From a track perspective there is loads. 16 straights, 16 curves, some switch points and six shorter curves. More than enough to run a double track across my board. The distance between rails is 25mm - its almost identical to the other set I bought but not quite. Either way once I have cut off the joining tabs and mounted these on an embankment you wont notice the difference.

Because they are similar gauges I can run both sets of wagons/cars on all the tracks.

The box claims there is over 4.5 metres of track. Each straight is 22cm long - so in straights alone there is over 2 metres. One box will suffice.

I should also point out that the rail way sleepers do have a wood grain effect so these should paint up quite well.

From a passenger car perspective they are a little small but still quite good - again a 28mm figure for scale purposes

Did I mention that the box came with a station?

Its not great but I think I might have a use for the platform and I'll flip the roof sections on their side and turn them into those large white cricket scenes you used to see on village cricket greens.

I think I am all trained out now so I can now start building the track proper and doing the conversions. An armoured wagon is definitely going to appear.

Now of course if you are interested in procuring this set you need to know the details...

10 comments:

I think those really are close to being the same scale. You are dealing with two different engine types and 0-8-0 and an 0-6-0 which can vary significantly in size. The smaller engine is going to be for lighter work and its bigger brother so I think both are still quite usable. From a strictly railroad fan standpoint neither of those are "road" engines they would be regulated to switching duties since they don't have a lead (also known as a pony truck) truck in the front.